OlympicMtnBoy

So it's not a "climb", but is anyone else heading to the coast. I'm going out with my girlfriend to do the south coast from Oil City to La Push/Third Beach and we're looking for someone interested in doing a car shuttle with us, or maybe someone just heading to one of those trailheads who might give us a ride from near the other one. It'd be nice to not have to hitch hike, especially giventhe questionable weather. WIll compensate with or $ for gas.

Thanks Treetoad, that looks nice up there. I definately need to head up and do more hiking there. I think this time we're gonna head to the coast though. I didn't realize they didn't have quotas on the south coast hike from Oil City to La Push, so we're going to brave the crowds. My girlfriend likes that beach and relatively flat hikes, hehehe. Is anyone else heading to the coast and might be interested in doing a car shuttle or giving us a ride one way or the other this weekend?

Hey Treetoad, do you know any spots we could hike in and camp up there? Mattp, I'm thinking that might be my backup plan. I haven't been up the Quinnault since 1999, and I've never been up the Queets. How do you think the ford would be with the big snowpack melting? Thanks everyone for your suggestions, except that Erica chick. I'm gonna leave her for Oly, my GF reads pretty well.

Yeah, it was pretty busy up there. We could hear people on the summit from where we were stuck for a bit, kind of funny. Here are a couple more pics. I forgot to resize, so the big ones are in my gallery. VW and Nate approaching the base of the couloir, you can kinda see the 'schrund above us. This one was cool so I posted the big one, VW pulling over the 'schrund. VW going over the cornice.

Here are a few more pics, forgot to resize, but the big ones are in my gallery: Vw and Nate in the first couloir. VW rapping in to the ice runnel. Nate rapping in. VW in the second couloir.

Nice Avi, glad to hear you like the new aiders. I was out practicing my aid solo systems a couple weeks ago at Index too. I'm gonna take you upon that beer and we can do something longer up at Squish some time this summer!

Ok, so it's not climbing, but I want to take my girlfriend out backpacking over memorial day cause she doesn't get many three day weekends. I didn't think of this soon enough or I would have made a reservation out on the Olympic coast. Any suggestions for a nice mellow 3 day trip with NO SNOW (girlfriend is averse to cold) and no reservations required. Is there any place in BC with nice long beach hikes? - OMB

Thanks, images fixed. :-) More to come soon.

Hey, my pictures got tiny, look in the gallery for bigger ones (or tell me how to post them, I'm new to this digi photo thing), you can barely make out the climber dots in the first two.

Climb: Colchuck-Northeast Buttress Couloir Date of Climb: 5/14/2006 Trip Report: After a succesful time on the Triple Couloirs the day before, myself, vw4ever, and masternate32 thought we might give the NEBC of Colchuck a shot. It wasn't as long (in terms of climbing) as the TC, and was supposed to be harder than the North Buttress Couloir, so it sounded like a fun finish to an awesome weekend. The weather was supposed to get warmer so we set our alarm for 3 AM this time in hopes of getting up the route before it warmed up too much. Soft snow and the big cornice we had seen still guarding the top out loomed in our minds. The alarm went off, but everyone hid in their sleeping bags waiting for someone else to get up first. Vw finally opened the tent, sealing me and nates fate. Now we'd have to get up too. After some coffee and oatmeal we wandered out of camp at 4:19 AM. The Colchuck moraine was tedius, but we made good time over that, past the folks camped there, and to the base of the north east buttress couloir. The bergschrund was open all the way across (except for a 6 inch thick bridge) so we took a few minutes deliberating how to get up. On the left there was a crappy looking snow bridge leading to a steep ramp that might go up to a short downclimb back to the couloir, on the right one could reach across the schrund by leaning over the gap, but it was about chest height and would be interesting to get up. While Chad was getting out a picket so we might belay the section, Nate walked over and sent the thing with a couple tool sticks and a funky knee mantle. I watched and decided it didn't look that hard to I did it too. Chad looked up to see us waving at him from the couloir. After a bit of encouragement he made the move as well. Above that the lower part of the couloir was surpisingly fun. There were patches of water ice here and there in the steep sections, interspersed with hard snow. There was more water ice here than in the triple couloirs the day before! We cruised on up until almost the point where you head left up the ramps toward the cornice when the sun came down on us full bore. It wasn't even 7, but here we were roasting, suddenly wondering if this was such a good idea. I guess we were focused elsewhere the day before and didn't notice the sun so early on that part of the face. We stripped down to t-shirts, thinking we would be at the top soon. That's where it started to get steep. Steep and sugary. Like maybe 70 degree unconsolidated shite, the sort of stuff where you dig for footing, cane your tool in at chest height, and then move before your steps collapse sending you down to your death with no chance of self arrest. Ok, maybe not the whole thing, but it was getting scary. I led up a ramp on the right that ended with a little snow ridge. VW passed me while I peed and moved up the very steep sugar on the other side of the snow ridge. Above us we knew there was only about 200-300 vertical feet. In the way was a narrow, near vertical constriction with little snow and a tiny bit of ice, and then an easier slope up to the cornice. Vw thought it would go like the one on triple couloirs, but he got halfway up and encountered more steep sugar on top instead of hard ice. Not wanting to downclimb, and psyched out about going up, we all realized that we needed the rope. Actually I had suggested it about 15 feet lower, but now we REALLY needed it. I was going to check out a left hand option that might avoid the constriction, but got the frantic call to get my ass up there with the rock gear. Vw hung out in the middle of the difficulty on fortunately good holds, with nate right below, while I crawled up into a "thank god" alcove and built a belay with 2 pins and a nut. Nate was in better position so I put Vw on a long tether to the anchor and Nate led up the rock over and past him. He couldn't find a good belay on the easier but still very soft slope above for about 40 meters so I ended up tieing in to the middle of the rope and also climbing over vw who finally got to move from his spindrift shower after me. We got up and regrouped at the belay with nate leading out again to the cornice only 80 feet above us. After a second look he figured out the move through the steep notch and was on top. Vw was crashing fast after the mental and physical stress of being stuck at the crux and showered with ice chunks in his t-shirt so we decided he should go next with support on both side. He woke up from his stupor rapidly once moving again and pulled through the cornice fine with me following shortly. We dropped our gear there and made the happy trek to the summit, thankful we were done with that one. I'm sure the NEBC is a way easier route with better snow conditions, and the constriction we belayed through may be avoidable, but for that day it was far more technical then the TC had been. Also getting out the rope BEFORE we needed it would have certainly left us feeling a little more in control there too. Lessons learned, we got to the top and had fun doing most of it. Olyclimber (who shared our camp the night before and had started a few minute before us to climb the Colchuck glacier) was waiting for us on the summit. I think he was there for like 3 hours waiting so we have him to thank for these neat pictures too. It was good to have company then. The route took us around 4.5 hours from camp with 1-1.5 hours spent on the last couple hundred feet. The descent was quick, with an awesome glisade almost all the way from the top of the moraine to the lake in soft snow. We rested for a bit and then packed up, getting to the car around 3 with cold beers in the snow. We said goodbye to olyclimber and hit the Ducks and Drakes from some much needed food. After 3 days out and two climbs, we all felt like we'd done something that weekend. Thanks to both VW and Nate for an awesome time on both routes! Thanks to Olyclimber for hanging out. All three of us climbing in the upper part of the couloir, photo by olyclimber. Here we're just going over the snow ridge about 50 feet below the difficult constriction. The three of us finally on the summit with Stuart keeping watch. :-) Gear Notes: Used: pins, nuts, pickets Needed: one short screw, more rock gear Approach Notes: Hike up, avoid the snow gators and hungry trees going up and down.

Climb: Dragontail-Triple Couloirs Date of Climb: 5/13/2006 Trip Report: I met up with vw4ever and masternate32 on Friday morning for the drive over to Leavenworth. We started hiking around 2:30 from the Stuart Lake TH and made Colchuck around 5:30 PM. My new Cilogear pack carried pretty well and the boot pack up there was ok, but follows a pretty weird route. As it was already getting pretty chilly (but not like it was in up there in Feb) we boiled some water, ate dinner, and shared a couple of cigars and shots of single malt (vw's group gear contribution ). We all crawled into my 2 man tent at 9. The alarm went off at 4 and it was already light enough to get ready without headlamps. I finally dragged myself out of camp at 5:15 a few minutes after everyone else. The lake was still hard enough to walk on (in most places) so it wasn't long till we were slogging up the hill to the base of the first couloir. The first couloir was longer than we thought (since you can't see it from the lake), but there were bucket steps all the way up so we made quick time again. The ice runnel we were hoping was hiding in there wasn't. We opted to head up a little farther to look for the snow ramps instead of the runout drytooling to find the ice up higher. A short bit up farther up the couloir and we were able to traverse back left and find a rap anchor from an earlier party. After a short break and some looking around we decided the best thing to do was to rap about 30 feet down to the ice runnels and follow them the rest of the way to the second couloir. This was the only time we used the rope or any pro, one nut to back up the nut and pin anchor (which nate dropped while cleaning, if you find a small chouinard nut it's mine). After rapping in to the runnels we climbed up to just below the second couloir. The entrance to the second couloir was blocked by a constriction with very little ice, but a few mixed moves in slightly cramped quarters found us all in nice snow again with a bit of an ice crust. I got a couple nice shiners from stuff nate kicked down before we got smart and started climbing closer together. The second couloir ended with another mostly snow covered ramp up right and a short but rather exposed mixed traverse up into the third couloir. From there it was just a final push up the snow slopes to the ridge crest not far from the summit. The snow was still hard enough that we could make out ski tracks from teleross's earlier descent. Bursting into the sun at the ridge we took a short break for water and food and checked the watch, only 9:30 AM. I guess you move faster when you're not bothering with the rope and pro, didn't think I was gonna be simul-soloing the whole thing. We made the short walk to the summit, took the mandatory pictures, and enjoyed the sun for a few mins. It was awesome to finally be on top after such a beautiful route. We'd all been eyeing that line on the mountain for a while. Then we started the long walk down to Asgard Pass. Sadly the pass was still too icy for and glissading, so it was more long and painful downhill walking to get back to camp. We returned to the sunny lakeshore rocks a little while after 11. Returning rather earlier than we expected we spent a lot of time hanging out and napping, enjoying more cigars and scotch, and wishing we had all brought books to read. Later in the evening Olyclimber made an appearance and we invited him to join our camp as the lakeside was filling up fast. VW, Nate, and I decided we were all still feeling good and that we ought to try something on Colchuck the next day. For that though you'll have to see the next TR. We crawled back into the tent a 8 and we soon snoring away again. Unfortunately I still live in film camera land, but hopefully we'll get some pictures in here soon. Gear Notes: Brought: 60m half rope, 6 nuts, 4 cams, 5 pins, 5 short screws, 2 pickets. Used: rope (needed 30m max), 1 small nut Approach Notes: Can drive to the TH now, trail is still mostly snow, watch for the snow gators and hungry trees.

UPS says mine is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I had to send him an email and bug him though. I think he got swamped with orders recently, mixed blessing for him, but I think it's better in the long run that he stay in business and keep making good gear. Hopefully he's getting things sorted out and your pack got shipped out around the same time as mine. I'm looking forward to loading mine up this weekend. :-)

Got any beaks in there?

Yeah, I think the criteria would have to be weight=0. I could carry a stove or a 1 lb sleeping bag to keep me warm in an emergency, but frequently I don't even do that, preferring the light=fast=home and warm sooner method. And as Squid said, what am I gonna do with power up there anyways, unless I had one of those silly battery powered heater jackets and my battery was dead. How about looking at a really light system for base camp use. I've had good luck with solar power to charge batteries for the mp3 player , speakers, cameras, and flashlights. If I'm packing/skiing/mule training in for the long haul I might consider an extra pound or two for power. I still won't carry it on the climb.

Hey Mike, what am I? The partner who is not to be named? You ashamed to be out doing alpine sport with me. Hehehe, it was a fun half day though. No prob runout, we saw you coming down and figured it was a good enough time to turn around. We were far enough ahead of you to miss your rocks (fortunately no one was under US). It sounds like the gully had dried out significantly in the few hours between when you did it and we did it. I climbed the wet 5.9 face on the bolt line and it wasn't really too bad by then either, just a little tricky with cold wet fingers. Next time I think I'm gonna climb the first 6 pitches of 5.easy with a pack and bivy gear, then make the rest a more liesurely second day. Of course there are probably better climbs, but the alpine sport aspect was fun up to there. I took a couple pics but with my film camera they might not see the light of day for a while.

Wasn't up on Ellinor, but went in to Boulder Shelter and climbed Coudy Pk. via the Dungeness Trail (TR coming soon). We didn't hit much snow at all till after 3000'. With all the warm weather last week it's been melting fast. There was afternoon postholing above 4K, which made nice cramponing early in the morning. I'd image it's similar around Ellinor/Washington right now.

Awesome Graham, I've been sitting on my ass waiting for a new pack deal since a heavy pack in Feb convinced me the Osprey Flyte I bought in 1996 was getting worn out. I knew my good deal would come along, and I'm glad it will helpout CC.com a bit too. Check your email. :-)

OMG, "Urban Climber" Timmy O'Niel climbing the Uptown Theater in Chicago(?) to look for a safe. Check out Urban Explorers on the Discover channel. How do I get "Urban Climber" as a job title (not that O'Niel needs anything in front of the Climber part).

Climb: Index cragging-Iron Horse and Arachnid Arch solo aid Date of Climb: 4/19/2006 Trip Report: Just a mini TR, but I'm bored and working from home. Index was relatively hopping yesterday with the nice sunny weather. I decided it would be a lot more fun to take the day off and play than stay inside and work. I've been meaning to do some aid, but I was too lazy to find a partner and didn't want to spend half the day belaying anyways. I wanted to climb instead! Thus I figured it was about time to start my solo aid career and figure out how to use that clunky gri-gri for something other than it's silly intended use. I decided Iron Horse looked like a nice line since my bag was heavy with way more gear than anyone but a solo gumby would want to carry. I lassoed a big boulder at the base for my anchor since the flake at the base looked ok, but not ideal and I wanted a good anchor figuring I'd be worried about other stuff. The pitch was really pretty straight forward once I got off the ground and got into a pattern feeding the gri-gri and working with my backup knots. The only slightly tricky move was the transition between crack systems below and left of the first anchors on Sagitarius. I found a decent ballnut placement to get me up. I went up the anchors just above the "ringing flake", rapped, and then ascended to clean. The whole pitch went well with my only minor snafu being shoving my ascender up again the anchor on accident with a little fiddling to get it loose. After I got down I had a nice hot lunch to field test my pepsi can alcohol stove. My tasty bites and cup of tea made it all seem quite luxurius, even if it was sunny and 60. After lunch I figured I ought to do something else since I had all that gear, but I was too lazy to move far so I did the Arachnid Arch variation of Sagitarius to practice a little traversing under a roof. The start was a little grunty in the flaring bit (there's a 0.5 camalot fixed there by someone if anyone wants to try and rescue it, I couldn't), and the crack inder the roof ate my small cams like candy. I found a super bomber hook a couple moves below the first anchor that you could hang yo mama from too. I stopped at the first anchor due to time and a lack of motivation to grunt in the chimney on solo lead. Cleaning the traverse was "good practice" too, at least I was smart enough not to back clean. All in all a fun day in the sun, and two good easy (C2?) routes to practice solo without too much commitment. I felt pretty good on my first solo leads, maybe I'll do Green Dragon or something next. Gear Notes: Aid rack, used offset aliens and ballnutz, but didn't really need them, plenty of room for standard gear. One hook move (cliffhanger) on the arch. Approach Notes: Hike five mins from the parking lot and you've probably already passed it.

It better not be mine! I'm still lookin for it!

Pirate Sam the Hatless??? What? What's a pirate to do without a hat? ARRGHHHHH, UV LOST ME HAT YE SCURVY RATS, NOW WHAT WHILL AYE DRINK ME GROG FROM???

I was there yesterday for this thing and Andy (iluka) seemed like a good guy. I guess I shouldn't discuss the specifics here, but give him a call if you're interested. It's pretty straight forward. :-)

Umm, anyone seen my car? I'm sure it was parked in my parking lot last night and uh, it ain't there now. There is a nice gash in the wall where someone deparked improperly, but I can't drive a busted wall. I never really thought anybody'd want the thing with the mileage and dents and the much nicer cars in our lot. It's tan, license 337-NZV and was most recently parked near 39th and Greenwood in Freemont (Seattle). Yesterday I even pulled the front left fender off an pounded the dent out, so look for a very slight mismatch and evidence of former dents. Fortunately no gear inside, but no insurance on repairing/replaceing it either (it's an 87 with 207k miles for godsakes!). if you see it, extra if you rough up the guy/gal who took it too! F*cker. P.S. Car responds to the name "Rumbly" and is generally friendly and aparently not hard to get into, even when locked.

Doh, found it. Had to look for Olympic Mountains: A Climbing Guide.

What? Why can't I find it on Amazon? They only list the old one when I look. Post a URL for me. :-)